Snake Rescue!

[dr_pretentious]

I didn't see it until after I'd run over the tip of its tail with my briefcase-on-wheels full of teaching books. Oof--what was that? A tiny black snake, now with a pronounced crook in its length. And if I didn't move it before I drove my car home, I'd run it over with far more weight than just my 40 pounds of dictionaries and SAT practice tests.

So I plopped the books into my car and scurried back to my student's front door.

"Did you forget something? It looks like we got the table cleared off."

"Um, do you have a pair of kitchen tongs I could borrow? I need to rescue a snake."

"Are you insane?! Wait, no, I'm sorry, I don't mean insane. I mean, I mean, are you serious?!"

"It's okay. You're not the first person who's ever asked that question." I explained why I was indeed serious.

"It's a snake"

My student's family, like most of my client families, is from India. "Oh, wait a minute," I said. "The snakes your parents grew up with are venomous and terrifying. Okay. We don't have snakes like that around here. There are only two kinds of poisonous snakes in New Jersey. This little guy just eats crickets, I promise."

"You're sure?"

"Come take a look at him."

No kitchen tongs were forthcoming, which is probably just as well, because my student's mother would have had reason to be even more distressed about the snake than her son was. I had to cajole the panicked snake onto a sheaf of papers to get him up off the street. Fascinated, the kid held the flashlight on his keychain to light my work for me.

"Aha, I have you now!" I said as I deposited the snake in my client family's yard. And then realized I had deposited it in my client family's yard. "Well, now you won't have as many crickets sneaking into your basement when the winter weather comes."

"Thanks?"

"Anytime."

Comments

[spindlewand.livejournal.com]

*giggles* I can see the whole thing.

I am puzzled, though, by the request for tongs. Is there something about snakes I don't know - does touching them hurt them? Because my reaction, if I were going to pick up a snake I was sure was not poisonous, would be to just grab it with my hand.

I may have spent too long working in Boy Scout Camps during my formative years, though...

[karen schmeelk-cone (from livejournal.com)]

You could be my son's new hero! Of course, he's a budding herpetologist and could tell you what family of snake it was if not the actual name. Quick thinking about the family being from India and great ad hoc educational experience! :-)

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

I considered grabbing it with my hand. My first tongworthy concern was that I might not be quick enough, and it would flee further under my car and be harder to avoid hurting again.

My second tongworthy concern was that most reptiles carry salmonella these days. If you get salmonella microbes on the tips of your tongs, you can wash them with soap and hot water before any human gets exposed. If you get salmonella bacteria on your hands from handling a panicky snake, even the most immediate handwashing could miss a spot. Salmonella sucks for everybody, but for the young children at home I might pass it along to, it would be even worse.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

I'd love to know what his guess is about its type or name. I know only a little about reptiles. It was black but for a little stripe of white just distal to its head. Its snout was very rounded. I'd say it was about 11 inches--as long as the standard-sized paper I picked it up on. And though it was a cool evening, a bit under 60 degrees, the snake wiggled pretty fast once I started trying to pick it up.

My poor student is awash in educational experiences. He has 3 deadlines for college applications this week, followed by the ACT on Saturday. How does anyone survive high school?